


Games People Play in the Pegasus Galaxy

by busaikko



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alien Culture, Board Games, Community: sga_santa, F/M, Games, M/M, Podfic Available, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-31
Updated: 2010-12-31
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:52:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/147993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/busaikko/pseuds/busaikko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chess, Kill-Wraith, Life, and the Ancestors' Ring Spins.  Four games, one team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Games People Play in the Pegasus Galaxy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lantean_Drift](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lantean_Drift/gifts).



> beta by sherry57

1\. Chess

Getting Elizabeth to approve of John making regular visits to Proculus is hard, but John figures he only has himself to blame. Chaya told him she was forbidden to teach the expedition about the Ancients, but John thinks being able to teach her about the expedition and the Pegasus locals is a pretty big loophole. Elizabeth approves of three trips a year, on the condition that he escorts a team of agricultural scientists for advanced grain studies, or something.

The first time, he takes his chessboard. Chaya's still hanging out at the temple to Athar, and she picks up the game quickly. John's not an expert on any kind of religion except the foxhole kind, but he knows a thing or two about the history and philosophy of chess, and a lot about war. Chaya is a good listener.

Elizabeth doesn't think Chaya will ever help them; Rodney tells John to his face that he's thinking with his dick. Teyla feels betrayed and angry that the Ancestors her people revere are pretty much all selfish and unhelpful.

When Atlantis is trapped on Earth, John's dragged out of bed at three one night by Daniel Jackson, who barges into his quarters and starts pacing, both hands buried deep in his hair.

"I thought you were in Washington," John says through a yawn so wide his jaw cracks. He knows better than to sleep naked, the way he prefers, but he feels dumb in his p.j.s when Jackson's wearing a sports coat and button-down shirt.

"Beamed back. Athar came to me in a vision," Daniel says, and holds up one hand as if begging John not to ask questions. "In my vision, we were playing chess. She said chess moves can be read as gate addresses."

"Chess moves can be read as anything," John says, but he's pulling a shirt on and kicking his sweatpants off, his heartbeat loud in his ears. "Where is she sending us?" Belt buckled, he shoves his feet into his boots and snags his jacket. "And what'll we find there?"

"That which will bring you home," Daniel intones, nose wrinkled as if he's quoting a disreputable text.

John grins, visions of ZPMs and other tech dancing in his head, and says a silent thank you to Elizabeth for trusting him all those years ago. "Awesome."

2\. Kill-Wraith

Teyla is glad when Rodney agrees to accompany her on the days she stays with her people. He can be a good teacher, and he understands that they want to be self-reliant. Someday Teyla would like to start a school; Ronon has told her about the one he attended on Sateda, with lessons in music and crafts as well as reading and calculation. The Athosian children are bright, skilled in trades and fighting, but the Wraith aren't going to be defeated with sticks.

That was the first lesson she learned from her childhood bantos teacher. _We will fight with rocks,_ she had been told, _and with sticks, and with fire. We will never stop fighting. But the Wraith are stronger. We fight not to win, but because we cannot give up._

She explains this to Rodney, and he just looks confused, asking her then why she and John insist he learn all that hand-to-hand stuff when his ways of killing Wraith are more effective. She doesn't think it would be polite to suggest that he needs confidence in his physical abilities. She sees him later that night, watching the children practice bantos. The children drag him into their circle when their game of Kill-Wraith starts; the role of choosing who plays Wraith and who plays Hunters is an honor, but one usually given to an older child, not an adult.

Rodney tells them that their method is inefficient and teaches them a sorting game played with their fingers. By morning mealtime, all the children, even the toddlers, have mastered the game. Teyla doesn't understand why sticks beat towel but are beaten by stone, and when she asks Halling's niece she gets a very McKay eyeroll in response.

"Corrupter of youth," she calls Rodney, who beams.

"Isn't it great?" He rubs his hands together.

After her people have been rescued from Michael and resettled, Rodney says they'd be idiots not to keep up with what Michael taught them. "Come on," Rodney says, when Teyla accuses him of being insensitive. " _Piloting spaceships_ beats whacking with sticks. Doesn't it?"

Teyla can't say yes, so she says, "Hm," and walks away. Outside, Torren is lying in his basket on a rug surrounded by children. The children are taking his tiny hands and molding them into sticks-towel-stone, and Teyla wants to tell him that she will never stop fighting, and she will fight to win.

3\. Life

In a misguided attempt to introduce Teyla's family and Ronon to the American way of life, John takes them to a swap meet one Saturday morning. Ronon figures it'll be like the fairs back home, but most of the items for trade are used children's clothes and toys. No one is selling knives or guns; John shrugs and says that there are different markets for those, and Ronon's likely to run into wingnuts. Rodney says who needs more knives, there are _muffins, right over there_.

Ronon googles _wingnut_ when he's back on Atlantis. The entry is all about US politics, which he actively does not care about -- why should he? He googles his name, and then Rodney's, which is always pretty funny, and then he's bored and thinking about eating more muffins so he heads over to John's room to hang out.

John and Rodney bought a small mountain of toys. Ronon figures Torren will have plastic crap for every birthday to come.

When they are finally back in Pegasus, Ronon's glad to be away from Earth. It's like American sweets; best in small doses. There's a lot of work to be done, finding old allies and reassuring trade partners that they still honor their agreements. Todd has all kinds of ambitions, but so does Rodney, now that Atlantis has two new ZPMs. The team don't have a day off together for weeks, so of course John has to make big plans for when their downtimes coincide, as if it's a holiday or something.

Turns out that's the one day when rain pours out of the sky, but John and Rodney break out plastic toys for Torren and playing cards and board games for the adults.

Rodney wants to play a game called Life, and John complains that he hates it.

"Why?" Ronon asks, looking over the board that Rodney's setting up. It's similar to Monopoly, except that there are plastic mountains and everyone gets a little car.

John flaps a hand and looks embarrassed. Once Ronon asked John if English was his first language; he acts like it's not, a lot of the time. "You start out as a kid, and you go to school and get married and work and pay taxes and it's just -- "

"What," Rodney says, laughing as he sticks little people in the cars and sets them at start. "You weren't allowed to be creative as a kid?" He takes a pen out of his pocket and hands it to John with a flourish. "I paid fifty cents American for this, do what you want."

Ronon looks over the career cards. He doesn't even know what a _travel agent_ does. Teyla and Kanaan choose cars, Kanaan a red car with a pink pin and Teyla a yellow car with a blue pin.

Whatever the game's rules are, Rodney doesn't know them and doesn't care. He grumbles his way through College and writes _Astrophysicist (PhD, PhD)_ on his career card. Teyla is a _Leader_ , Kanaan a _Trader_ , and John scrawls _Best Pilot in Two Galaxies_ over the _Doctor_ card. Rodney's supposed to have debt, but he waves this away, saying he got funding from big business. Ronon goes through College so he has more time to think about what he wants to be, and finally settles for _Kickass_. He gives himself a good salary for it, too. Teyla and Kanaan refuse to marry other little pins and drive around single, and when John reaches the Mandatory Marriage square he sticks another little blue pin in his car, looking self-conscious.

"Really?" Rodney says. "Huh."

Ronon feels kind of smug. He's known that about John for a while.

4\. The Ancestors' Ring Spins

"Oh my God," Rodney says, when Kanaan explains the rules. "It's a Pegasus drinking game."

"You only need to drink if you cannot answer the question," Teyla says, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed. Rodney thinks they probably don't need to drink much more. It's the Athosian New Year, held at the winter solstice.

They're back in Pegasus, they're winning major battles against the Wraith, and people have been really, really generous about expressing their thanks through multiple toasts with the local wine. Rodney had been glad when the main ceremony broke up and the team could go hide out in Teyla's tent. But now he's sitting in a circle between Kanaan and John while Teyla demonstrates how you ask a question -- "Have you ever eaten the _falra_ bird?" -- and then spin the ring in the center of the circle, which is carved and wooden and looks only a little bit like a Stargate.

It falls in John's direction and he sighs and reaches for the bottle.

"Yes," Teyla tells him, as he takes a swallow. "Exactly. Have you played before?"

"Something like," John tells her. "Is it my turn now?"

Of course it isn't; for some completely random reason, the next person is Kanaan, who gets Ronon to drink, and then Teyla again, except she has to drink this time because Rodney _can_ whistle through his front teeth.

Rodney has always hated these kinds of things, because usually they're just a veiled excuse for people to indulge in bullying and pressure tactics. It is different with friends. No one is going to ambush him, he realizes, or e-mail everyone embarrassing pictures. He finds himself relaxing, and at some point he actually falls asleep, slouched over sideways with his head on John's leg.

"Hey, buddy," John says, and suddenly Rodney is aware of being shaken, a hand on his shoulder and a terrible crick in his neck. "Teyla's kicking us out."

"Yes, John," Teyla says, sounding as if she's been smiling for hours. "That is what I am doing."

"We have our own tent," John says, and pushes at Rodney ruthlessly until he's sitting and then standing and then staggering out the tent flap and into the moonlit encampment.

Rodney frowns. Something's not right. He balks to a stop. "We forgot Ronon."

John snorts. "If you think I can carry Ronon's drunk ass as well as your own, well. You would be wrong."

"That one's our tent," Rodney says, pointing. He wants to refute John cleverly, but he can't, so he decides to just ignore him. This works well until John gets them both inside and drops Rodney onto his sleeping bag.

"Here," John says, holding out a canteen. "Drink up, or you'll be sick in the morning."

"I wanted to ask you something," Rodney says, trying to remember as he took a few long drinks of lukewarm water. "In the game. What did I want to ask you?"

"Shoe size," John suggests, as he pulls off his boots. "Hat size?"

Rodney shakes his head, because neither of those are _Can you_ or _Have you ever_ or _Do you_ questions. His head immediately spins from the movement. He takes a final sip and hands the canteen back. His fingers fumble against John's and he looks at John and he remembers.

"It's been a long day," John says, very quietly, and drinks some water himself.

"I'm going to ask you tomorrow," Rodney tells him, and settles on his back with his arm over his eyes, feeling every clod of dirt despite the foam pad under his sleeping bag. "It's been a long few years."

He doesn't think John's going to say anything. The tiny lamp is turned off, and he can hear John shimmying into his own sleeping bag.

"I'll probably say yes," John says, finally.

"It'll be okay." Rodney wants to sound reassuring, but he's also very aware that he's drunk. "We've been changing the rules since we got here. We should be allowed to win at our own game, don't you think?"

John doesn't say anything. When Rodney looks over he sees John's asleep, mouth open and curled on his side.

"Be that way," Rodney tells him, and shuts his eyes.

  
the end  


**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Games People Play in the Pegasus Galaxy (podfic)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/313273) by [susan_voight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/susan_voight/pseuds/susan_voight)




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